Fortunately, we have something very similar here on Earth: a basaltic or lava-type soil. A similar variant is even available in most garden centres in the United States, with a little more iron than the Martian soil.

As Mars is further from the sun than Earth, its surfaces gets around 60 per cent less sunlight than the surface of Earth.

This environment favouring shade-loving plants was simulated by Dr Guinan and his students by using a shade-painted greenhouse, which also allowed them to simulate the very dry atmosphere of Mars.

Mars soil regolith simulant for the classroom

PHOTO: This self-portrait of NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover shows just how desert-like the surface of the planet is. (Getty Images: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

To counteract the dryness, and provide the other essential ingredient for growing plants — water — Dr Guinan said Martian gardeners would need to find and defrost frozen water.

The astrobiology students only had to turn a tap, but they found the plants did dry out easily.